? 
 
 
 (fV 
 
 A TRUE 
 
 STATEMENT OF FACTS, 
 
 IN REPLV TO 
 
 BY 
 
 MESSRS. CHARLES BARBELL, HENRY F. BARRELL, 
 KORCE BARRKLL, and SAMUEL B. BARRF.LL. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 PRJXTED BT JOHN EJ.IOT 
 
 1816.
 
 SRLE 
 
 STATEMENT. 
 
 I AM deeply impressed with the impropriety of asking 
 the attention of the public to the private concerns of indi- 
 viduals, and especially family disputes ; and had the pam- 
 phlet which has lately been distributed by the Messrs. 
 Barrells, with an intent to injure me, been confined to 
 the limits of this town, where I was born and educated, 
 and have resided, and where my character is generally 
 known, I should certainly have refrained from noticing it; 
 but as they have given it a very extensive circulation 
 throughout this State, and in other States also, an answer 
 has become incumbent upon me ; no apology, therefore, 
 I presume, is necessary. The public having heard par- 
 tially, their sense of justice and propriety will induce 
 o them to hear further before they finally judge. 
 ^ I am somewhat at a loss how to commence my answer 
 | to this pamphlet. In looking over it, I do not find any 
 one specific charge of dishonesty, fraud, or want of integ- 
 ^ rity. True it is I am loaded with the vilest epithets, and 
 , the deepest curses of heaven are called down upon me ; 
 ^ even the reputation of Mrs. Joy has not been regarded 
 
 by these young men, her brothers. They could destroy, j 
 it seems, her character " with equal facility" as mine, 
 >- but with their great " leniency" they forbear. To these 
 , epithets, these curses, and, above all, to the " leniency" 
 *} of these young men, the respect I owe the public, and 
 '-J that which I owe myself, forbids a single word ; in a 
 S very different temper I do assure them I shall perform 
 } the task they have thrown upon me. I consider this 
 whole business by no means trifling in its consequences. 
 I am well aware I am at the head of a family, and 
 have not many years to live ; that I have a deep respon- 
 sibility upon me. I consider myself not so devoted to
 
 
 
 property as to give up character for it, and I ana dee 
 impressed with the truth that the judgment of the tribu- 
 nal I am now before, involves the future happiness of 
 myselfand family, and every thing I esteem dear in life : 
 I therefore premise that any assertions which I make in 
 this appeal will not be hastily made, and upon the truth 
 of which I shall be perfectly willing to stand or fall* 
 
 The complaints against me appear to be vague and 
 indefinite in their nature. They relate principally to 
 my injudicious management in not selling the property 
 which was conveyed to me by Mr. Barrell, in due season ; 
 procrastination in the settlement and exhibition of my 
 accounts; and in making verbal declarations which do 
 not finally prove correct. The answers to, and the ex- 
 planation of these charges, which I have repeatedly giv- 
 en to these young men, I will now state by a plain and 
 simple recital of facts, and a developcment of my tran- 
 sactions in these concerns, and with this family, from their 
 commencement to the present day. 
 
 I conceive it will not be thought improper for me to 
 say, that on my arrival in this country, from India, in Oc- 
 tober^ 1795, 1 was an unembarrassed man. I had a per- 
 fect competency, and was indebted to no one. I had an 
 active property to the amount of upwards of two hun- 
 dred thousand dollars, without a single person dependant 
 on me. In consequence of the very deep and ruinous 
 speculations which Mr. Barrell made in the Virginia 
 lands, the Western Reserve lands, the Georgia lands, 
 and French estates, in the Middlesex Canal and some 
 Bridges, and in a very expensive establishment at Pleas- 
 ant Hill, he became much pressed for money, and before 
 I was connected in his family, he applied to me for a con- 
 siderable loan. I lent Him the sum I then had on hand, 
 in cash, which was seven thousand dollars, as will appear 
 by his books. I married Mrs, Joy in 1797, and before 
 the close of the year 1799, having been induced by him 
 on the failure of Barrell and Hoskins, and on other occa- 
 sions, to endorse his notes, I was obliged to take them up; 
 and having also been called to satisfy other demands and 
 executions against him, his debt to me for my advances, 
 and interest thereon, amounted to nearly fifty-nine thou-
 
 sand dollars ; this also will appear from his books, and pa- 
 pers in his own hand. In this same year, in consequence 
 of this debt and of a conditional engagement made by me, 
 in his behalf, with Jones. Jeffery and Russell, Mr. Barrell 
 gave me absolute conveyances of the principal part of his 
 real and personal estate, unaccompanied by any stipula- 
 tions or agreement whatever. It is very probable that 
 Mr. Barrell, from the relation in which I stood to him, 
 and from the course of my conduct, already witnessed 
 toward him. conceived, that, if by the management and 
 disposal of this property, according to my best judgment 
 and discretion, on which he was willing to rely, I should 
 be able, after indemnifying myself, to realize any residue, 
 it would be readily applied to the benefit of himself and 
 family. Such has ever been my disposition ; such was 
 probably his confidence. With this unexpected and hea- 
 vy debt already incurred, at his pressing solicitation, I 
 continued my advances, which, with other disbursements 
 and assessments incident to the property and indispensa- 
 ble to prevent its sacrifice, increased my demand against 
 him, at his death, in 1804. to the sum of ninety-tAvo thou- 
 sand dollars and upwards. I would here beg the head- 
 er's attention to an observation I am now about to make, 
 that this sum of ninety- two thousand dollars, and those 
 for which I had become answerable, every species of 
 property that ever did belong to Mr. Barrell, then remain- 
 ing in my hands, unaccounted for, if sold on any reasonable 
 terms of cash or credit, would not have been sufficient to 
 discharge at this time ; or in other Avords, Mr. Barrell at 
 the day of his death did not leave one single farthing of 
 property. It is true that Pleasant Hill, so called, had cost 
 about forty eight thousand dollars; and seventy seven 
 shares in the Middlesex Canal about forty four thousand 
 dollars, besides interest ; yet it is equally true that the one 
 would not produce one half, and the other not one fourth 
 of their cost. The Georgia lands, the Virginia, Eastern, and 
 Ohio lands, and the French estates, were not of great 
 value. \Y hat then would have been proper for me to have 
 done ? Would it have been unreasonable or unkind to 
 have withheld any further advances ? to have stated to 
 his family their situation, the very great extent to which
 
 
 
 I had already involved myself, and my inability to pro- 
 ceed further ? I did no such thing : On the contrary I 
 immediately took on myself the care, support, and ex- 
 pence of his whole family, consisting of his widow and 
 six sons, and the widow of his son and her four children. 
 I provided for their different establishments, and have 
 been educating some, supporting and paying for them 
 all, from that day to the present. For Mrs. Barrell, for 
 her support, maintenance and other expences, I have 
 been regularly called upon, and still continue so to be. 
 With her own consent she retired to the pleasant town 
 of Weathcrsfield, in Connecticut, the place of her birth, 
 and has there boarded with her own brother, Colonel 
 Webb, associating with the most respectable characters 
 of the place with apparent satisfaction and contentment; 
 all which I draw from her letters, expressing her grati- 
 itude towards Mrs. Joy and myself, and her perfect ap- 
 probation of our conduct towards her. The two eldest 
 sons I established in business when they were of age, by 
 becoming generally answerable for their credits, have 
 constantly' endorsed their paper, and am at this moment 
 answerable for them at the bank, and have been partial- 
 ly called upon for the board of one of them, and for oth- 
 er expences to this day. For Samuel B. Barrell, though 
 I have paid for a liberal education for him, and he is now 
 twenty-six years of age, I have been at a continual ex- 
 pence, amounting at this time, with simple interest, to 
 above three thousand seven hundred dollars. This 
 Samuel B. Barrell, who has been, as I believe, the prin- 
 cipal, if not sole agent in this shameful persecution, this 
 public indefinite calumniator of a lady, and that lady his 
 sister, through "leniency" avoiding to particularize, leav- 
 ing thereby to be imputed to her, by those who should 
 happen not to know her, any crime of any dye ; this same 
 young man has had the meanness, for I can call it by no 
 other name, since this month of October, to send to me 
 to pay a bill for his board to the amount of one hundred 
 and fifty-eight dollars. All the children of Mr. Barrel! 
 I have brought forward ; they have looked up to rne for 
 support, and have received it; and to each of them I 
 have been furnishing money,, as will be seen by the ab-
 
 stract subjoined at the close of this pamphlet, until my 
 cash advances amount for the family to at least twelve 
 thousand eight hundred eighty-eight dollars, exclusive 
 of any interest ; add the simple interest and it will ex- 
 ceed, since Mr. Barrell's death, seventeen thousand one 
 hundred fifty dollars. These young men have dared to 
 say that this helpless family was, by their father, com- 
 mitted to my charge, and that I promised to take care of 
 them. This is an absolute untruth; not a word of the 
 kind, or any other relating to his family, ever passed be- 
 tween Mr. Barrell and myself; and the manner of his 
 death is a confirmation of my assertion. He lived in 
 Charlestown and enjoyed unusual good health; he went 
 to bed as well as he had been for many years ; on rising 
 in the morning he was suddenly seized, and complained 
 of difficulty of breathing, and before he could dress him- 
 self his life departed from him. Since the decease of 
 Mr. Barrell, payments for which I was answerable, and 
 other disbursements of the same incidental and indispen- 
 sable nature arising out of the kind of property held, 
 will exceed the sum of twenty-four thousand dollars, 
 which, with the interest, and the above stated advan- 
 ces and interest, for the family, has brought the foot 
 of my account, after giving credit for all monies received, 
 to above one hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars. 
 
 By the declaration of these young men in their pam- 
 phlet, it appears that the concerns of their father were 
 occasionally the subject of conversation between myself 
 and them, and that I uniformly stated to them, that un- 
 less a compromise could be affected between the United 
 States, and the Georgia purchasers, my claims upon the 
 estate, and for which I had satisfactory vouchers, would 
 absorb the whole property; but they go further, and 
 say, and it is made the foundation of one of their charges 
 against me, that I also added, if this claim could be com- 
 promised they would realize something from the estate 
 of their father ; and at another time, if the Georgia lands 
 come to any thing, there would probably be something 
 considerable left them. I do not recollect having made 
 these declarations ; several years have elapsed by their 
 own statement, since they were made ; nor do I think it
 
 necessary to deny them ; nay, I think it possible, even 
 probable, that some time since I may have expressed 
 hopes that I might realize more than the property stood 
 me in, and in such an event that the estate would receive 
 the surplus from me. These hopes naturally grew out 
 of the situation of the property ; but when I saw how 
 long the settlement of the Georgia business was likely 
 to be protracted, and considered the accumulating inter- 
 est and the depressed state of the Missisippi stock, I 
 knew that all the property could not fetch nearly as 
 much as it stood me in, arid informed them of it. I did 
 not make to them these representations for the purpose 
 of deceiving or quieting them: I had nothing to fear, I 
 was not in their power, and I was in the same breath 
 telling them that all the property was absorbed. And 
 must not the fulfilling of my expectations depend upon 
 the time when, and the manner in which these claims 
 were settled ? Has not the time been extended beyond 
 the expectation of every single individual concerned ? 
 Have riot twenty years elapsed between the purchase 
 and the compromise ? If the demand against the prop- 
 erty exists, interest is daily accruing. Will it make no 
 difference, whether the compromise is made in five or in 
 twenty years ? As to the manner also, was it not the 
 rcasonaule expectation of all parties that, if the United 
 States assumed it in any way, they would at least give 
 an indemnity? If the claim was just in principle, it was 
 wholly so, not in part only. Have they done so ? Cer- 
 tainly not; for what cost Mr. Barrell twenty five cents, 
 ten only have been obtained from tne Government, and 
 that in certificates, which will command in the market 
 now, from forty-three to forty-six cents only in the dol- 
 lar. Under these circumstances, can there be a human 
 being that would criminate me for having been mistaken ? 
 The truth however is, that I now am of the opinion, that 
 if the compromise had been made in any reasonable 
 time, and full indemnity had been received, I should have 
 realized more than the amount of my expenditures and 
 the accumulated interest ; in which case I should have 
 applied the surplus to the benefit of the estate. That it 
 has not been so,- is surely not my fault, though I much
 
 Vegret it. Every thing which I could do to obtain a 
 just indemnity I have done, at a great expense of time 
 and money, and the sacrifice of domestic enjoyments. 
 But after all, where is the injury done the Messrs. Bar- 
 rells by me ? If they bring those conversations in evidence 
 of the falsity of my accounts, and prove them so, they 
 may then complain of me ; but if my statement, after 
 examination and proof, amounts to more than the whole 
 value of the property received, where can the injury 
 arise to tSiem from my having so said ? If I have wound- 
 ed their feelings by those expressions, surely there is no 
 blame, unless done intentionally ; and they, even they 
 I hope, would not in this instance charge me with such 
 a design. 
 
 A second charge of these young men is, that I did not 
 sell, in 1806, the Pleasant Hill farm, seventy seven 
 shares in the Middlesex Canal;, the eastern lands, -and 
 Ohio shares. That if I had, they would have principally, 
 if not wholly, discharged my debt. This is not true in 
 any part of it. If I had then sold this property, with the 
 Georgia lands included, and all the remaining property 
 which I had of Mr. Barrel!, they would not have brought 
 what they stood me in ; and the large sums for which I 
 was responsible to Jones, Jelfery and Russell, and oth- 
 ers, on Mr. Barrell's account, by many thousand dollars. 
 The real truth however is, that they never ^ould have 
 been sold, but at a very great sacrifice. The Pleasant 
 Hill farm had cost Mr. Barrell about forty eight thousand 
 dollars, and I appeal to any gentleman, acquainted with 
 the price of real estate and country establishments, 
 whether at any time from his death to the present day 
 it would have produced half its cost. There was a 
 prospect of its being connected by a bridge with this 
 tow r n, and I was reluctant at making such a sacrifice 
 while there were hopes of its being effected. The Ca- 
 nal shares were in a worse situation. They would not 
 have commanded four shillings in the pound of their 
 cost. In regard to those shares I did as all the respec- 
 table large proprietors in that corporation did. If I had 
 sold the one or the other at the current value, and 
 2
 
 10 
 
 they had afterwards arisen considerably I should have 
 been charged with sacrificing the property for my own 
 convenience and relief, and destroying any possibility of 
 the estates being benefited by any after increase of its 
 value, and I should have heard much more upon this 
 subject. As to the Eastern and Ohio Lands, my attor- 
 nies have always had a power to sell them, but they 
 never have been able to execute that power but to a 
 very small extent; nor have any persons holding the 
 same kind of property more than myself been able to 
 dispose of theirs. If I could have sold the estates and 
 discharged my demands, it certainly would have been for 
 my interest so to have done. I knew very well that there 
 was a deficiency, and I had reason to hope that by defer- 
 ring the sale the property would be enhanced in value.* 
 Mr. Barrell, some years before his death, was plea- 
 santly situated on the Pleasant Hill farm, with a hand- 
 some independent property. I had almost said in the 
 course of forty-eight hours, but certainly in a very short 
 compass of time, as though his mind had been blotted 
 out forever, and a perfect delirium had succeeded to it, he 
 rushed into speculations of the greatest magnitude, and 
 did not desist, until, what with payments, promises, and 
 notes of hand, he made himself responsible for a sum 
 exceeding in amount much more than double what he 
 was worth in the world. The exhibit for all these spec- 
 ulations was a property consisting of French estates, 
 Virginia lands, Ohio lands, Eastern lands, Georgia lands, 
 Western reserve lands, Middlesex Canal shares, and 
 shares in bridges, from all which property, (except for the 
 Western reserve lands,) I have not received more than 
 three thousand three hundred dollars.f At the com- 
 mencement of his troubles, which soon made their ap- 
 
 * It will be seen that bv my not disposing of the property at that time for 
 whatever it would fetch, I risked its Jailing in value, in which case I might have 
 gotten still less of -what it stood me in ; and had it arisen in value, with my de- 
 clared intentions, I could not have been benefited beyond my advances: and as 
 the whole property then held by me, certainly would not have Bold for sufficient 
 to have reimbursed me for such advances, and have paid the claims of Jones, Jef- 
 fery and Russell, and others, my not selling at that time could in DO way injure 
 Mr. Barren's family, but might have benefited it. 
 
 { The Messrs. Barrells, in their pamphlet, would impress the public with an 
 idea that I have received more than one hundred and sixty thousand dollars from
 
 11 
 
 pearance, most of this property was unsaleable. Upon 
 his application I was, from my connexion in the family, 
 induced to advance the money to extricate him from his 
 difficulties, being then ignorant of their extent, and final- 
 ly obliged to become the owner of all these ruinous, de- 
 structive, miserable purchases, I trust there are few 
 who will say, that I could have sold them ; there are 
 still fewer, who will say that I should not have sold 
 thera, if it had been possible to have done it to any ad- 
 vantage. If I had sold the whole property, its avails 
 would not have indemnified me ; notwithstanding which, 
 I continued my advances for the family. The property 
 was my own, and I endeavoured to use my best discre- 
 tion and judgment in the management of it. 
 
 These young men, removing every the smallest peb- 
 ble in the street, in the fond hope of finding some weapon 
 of destruction, have thought proper to make another 
 charge against me, respecting some wine of their father's. 
 If I had not prescribed to my temper and feelings a dif- 
 ferent course, I should call this a pitiful charge. The 
 answer I have to make is, that this purchase was in 
 pursuance of their own desire, as will appear by the fol- 
 lowing certificate, and at an appraisement by order of the 
 Judge of Probate, which I undertake to say was fifty per 
 cent, higher for the Madeira wine than any Madeira wine 
 of any age or description was selling for at that time in 
 the different wine stores of this town.* 
 
 Copy of the Request of the Legatees of Mr. J. Barrett to 
 
 B.Joy. 
 
 The subscribers, heirs and legatees of the late Joseph 
 Barrell, Esq. wishing, from motives of delicacy, and from 
 
 the Georgia speculation only ; though they knew when they made their state- 
 ment, that, in consequence of disputed titles, I could not have received, on that 
 account, but about one hundred thotiSKiul dollars in Missisippi stock, exclusive of 
 that claimed by Jones, Jeffrey and liusfell, the greater part of which, after a long 
 contest in law, was received in May last ; and they also knew, that that stork was 
 not then worth in the market, more than foity cents in the dollar ; none of which 
 stock is yet sold. 
 
 * They have misrepresented the quantity of wine by more than one eighth 
 part; and many of the other articles mentioned in the request, and which are 
 not inconsiderable, the signers look to themselves ; anil I am now accountable for 
 them at the Probate office, though they make no part of my present charge 
 against them.
 
 12 
 
 respect and attachment to his memory, to prevent a pub- 
 lic sale of the wines, liquors, books, family pictures, and 
 particular pieces of plate, are desirous that you would 
 prevent it by taking those articles at the prices affixed 
 to them by the gentlemen appointed by the Judge of 
 Probate to appraise the property he left. 
 
 Signed, SARAH BARRELL, 
 BENJ. JOY, Esq. CHARLES BARRELL, 
 
 HENRY F. BARRELL, 
 Boston, May 1, 1805. GEORGE BARRELL. 
 
 With respect to compound interest, I would make the 
 following observations : That it is the practice of the 
 mercantile world to make up their accounts annually j 
 that it is no more than a fair indemnity, and that for ma- 
 ny years past, and at this moment, 1 am indebted to the 
 Bank, for monies on account of this concern solely, where 
 I am obliged to pay the interest upon the sums every 
 sixty days. I have, however, not uniformly, in my state-* 
 ment, compounded the interest ; in all cases where 1 have 
 made sales and received payments, I have substracted 
 those payments, yearly, from the foot of it. It would be 
 extremely unjust, in my estimation, where one person is 
 indebted to another and a payment is made, that that 
 payment should be taken from the principal, when there 
 is more interest due, at the time, than the payment 
 amounts to. Where there have no sums of any conse- 
 quence been received, during the year, the statement pro- 
 ceeds on simple interest. This, however, I do assure the 
 public, is merely a question of propriety and justice, for 
 was the wliole amount of compound interest removed, all 
 the property, which remains, of that which Mr. Barrell 
 conveyed to me, would not be sufficient to indemnify me, 
 by many thousands of dollars. But I do not give up the 
 principle, or the right of thus estimating interest. 
 
 I will now make a few observations on the remaining 
 charge in the pamphlet, which is the procrastination of 
 my statement. November last, it seems, by their declara- 
 tion, was the time they applied to me for this paper. I 
 "was then much engaged in preparing for my departure
 
 13 
 
 for Washington. It may be easily conceived that I had 
 
 i 11 i 
 
 many concerns to attend to, and but a short time to give 
 
 to them ; that it was not an easy thing, at that moment, 
 to take an abstract, and make out a formal account, of 
 the transactions of twenty years standing. I was then 
 going to Washington, not in my own behalf only, but as 
 an agent for the New England Missisippi Land Compa- 
 ny, and many persons concerned in the Georgia purcha- 
 ses, and particularly those claims which were formerly 
 Mr. Barrell's. I had persons constantly calling on me, 
 and was obliged to leave town early in December, to be 
 at Washington in season. I well knew, also, that these 
 young men had no demand on me ; that the property I 
 had been conducting was my own, and that I was re- 
 sponsible only to myself for its management. My inter- 
 est called upon me strongly to do the best I could with 
 it. The only motive that could possibly offer itself to 
 me to give them any statement at all, was to support and 
 maintain the integrity of my character, and the upright- 
 ness of my views. Should there be any delay, therefore, 
 in giving that statement, it was at my own peril, and not 
 to their injury, as I knew it could make no difference to 
 them. They had no pecuniary demand upon me, and I 
 knew, in the event of a full examination, they never could 
 have. I, however, as well as I could, to comply with 
 their wishes, immediately set about it, and drew one out 
 sufficiently particular to give them a knowledge of the 
 facts. It is true, as they say, that I began with the sum 
 of fifty-eight thousand nine hundred dollars, but it was 
 because their own father, in his books, and in his hand- 
 writing, shows that sum due to me at that time. As I 
 was in great haste, and as these young men had been 
 very imperious and formal in their application, I was loath 
 to hand over this statement, thus drafted, to their custo- 
 dy. I did not chuse to be bound by it ; but that they 
 might see it, and examine it, that they might be informed 
 of the truth of what I had stated to them, I sent it to Mr. 
 Snow, a friend of the family, with a letter, in which I ex- 
 press my wish that it might be shewn to the Messrs.
 
 14 
 
 Barretts; but as it was hastily drawn up* and not alto- 
 gether perfect, I desired that no authenticated copy ot' it 
 should be taken. Of this I informed the Messrs. Bar- 
 relFs, by a letter to Henry F. Barrell, in which I gave 
 hun my reasons for so doing. This statement they fre- 
 quently saw and particularly examined, as they acknow- 
 ledge in the postscript to their letter of January, and from 
 it made such extracts as they saw fit. Now I here aver, 
 that, as SOOD after they made their request as I could, 
 consistently with my other pressing occupations, I did 
 thus lay before them this statement, for their examination, 
 which gives them a complete knowledge of my concerns, 
 with these checks only, that, through tear of omissions in 
 the hurry in which it had been made, it should not, in fu- 
 ture, be brought against me. It was not a general ac- 
 count ; on the contrary, it was a statement of every item 
 and every charge, and every credit, for the period of 
 Dearly twenty years ; and, after a re-examination, I find 
 very trifling omissions, and very little difference from my 
 present statement, except in regard to bank interest, 
 which, in this last, I have not estimated, although I have 
 just claims to it. 
 
 What then is the next step taken ? Why, these young 
 men sit down and write a letter to me, at Washington, 
 protesting against all parts of my conduct, misrepresent- 
 ing facts, abusing Mrs. Joy and myself, and loading us 
 both with the grossest calumny, and tmally declaring that, 
 unless I would agree to leave all disputes, and all my 
 transactions and conduct to three impartial men, in twen- 
 ty-one days from its date they would publish to the world 
 their grievances and my refusal. My answer is annexed 
 to then* pamphlet, except that thev leave Mrs. Joy's name 
 out of it 1 did not return to Boston until the last of 
 May, and was, to their knowledge, preparing, as I prom- 
 ised, a full and accurate statement for their inspection, 
 when their pamphlet made its appearance, and to which 
 I long hesitated whether or not to reply. 
 
 * TbOTgh it appears k is easy to make charges ami unsupported assertions, 
 yet meii liiae i> n-jiired to make a true statement of treaty jean tratr>act ; c
 
 15 
 
 Having gone through the several charges in this pam- 
 phlet, 1 now solicit attention to a few prominent features 
 in this concern. When I first entered into this connex- 
 ion with Mr. Barrell. I was an independent man, without 
 owing a dollar to any person. In consequence of 
 advances on account of this property. I have been oblig- 
 ed to he a constant applicant to banks for assistance, pay- 
 ing the interest upon my notes every sixty days. My 
 advance^ increased so rapidly that, at the time of the 
 conveyance of his property to me, the whole of it then 
 conveyed, would not, if sold, produce a sum equal to these 
 advances, and my engagements for his account; neither 
 would it at the time of his death ; neither would it, as the 
 Georgia claims have turned out, at any period from that 
 time to the present moment. 
 
 At Mr. barrell's death he left a famfly of twelve in 
 number, destitute, and though I well knew my situation 
 at the time, I did not desert them, but pro video for every 
 one of them, as occasion required : mauy of them I have 
 exclusively supported to the present hour, and all of them 
 partially. For the last seventeen years I have been prin- 
 cipally employed in the management of those concerns, 
 and providing for the education and support of this nume- 
 rous family, for the trouble of which I have charged noth- 
 ing, nor for the time which his children have lived in my 
 tamily. which is equal to nine or ten years board. The 
 vexations, the anxieties and sacrifices of feeling incidental 
 to such a situation. I shall not detail ; they will be justly 
 estimated by the public. Behold my reward ! If there is 
 any person after reading this statement, and consulting his 
 understanding, will lay his hand on his heart and con- 
 scientiously say he would have done more, to him this 
 appeal is not addressed, for in his eyes I can never be 
 justified ; but in those of all others I presume and hope 
 I shall. 
 
 One word upon the subject of a reference. I would 
 now say that the statement of my advances with 
 interest, which till now I have not been able to prepare, 
 and for which I have satisfactory proof, amounts to the 
 sum of above one hundred and ers4itv-four thousand dol-
 
 16 
 
 lars; that it has always been my intention that this state- 
 ment should be inspected, examined, and proved by disin- 
 terested persons, as my letters afld declarations will shew ; 
 that I have not the least objection to leave it to the inves- 
 tigation and final judgment of three impartial and honora- 
 ble men, and to their decision upon it I will engage to abide 
 with cheerfulness. With the same cheerfulness I will sub- 
 mit to those gentlemen for their judgment, any fraud, any 
 dishonesty, or any want of integrity of conduct, or any 
 wilful intention to lesson or increase the property for my 
 own interest to the exclusion of any other persons ; but 
 as to the time of selling or not selling any part of the 
 property, any error of judgment in the disposition of that 
 property at any time, these are points I never will con- 
 sent to leave to the decision of any persons. The prop- 
 erty was duly conveyed to me, it was intended to be 
 mine, and it was mine, and I had absolute control over it ; 
 the sole person having any right in the disposition of it, 
 and therefore for that disposition of it, or for no disposi- 
 tion of it. I will not be accountable to any person or per- 
 sons. My assertions will be duly appreciated when I say 
 it is not through fear, for whether trusted with proper- 
 ty as an agent, or as an owner, there cannot be a person 
 on earth, who would hold me accountable so long as I 
 acted within these powers for a mere unintentional error 
 in judgment; but the principle is wrong, and I shall not 
 submit to it.* 
 
 In conclusion I will say, that if the Messrs. Barrells, 
 or any of their friends, will now come forward and pay 
 me the amount which those gentlemen shall determine 
 to have been expended by me for account of this con- 
 cern, and the interest thereon; also the amount for 
 
 Had not the Messrs. Bnrrells have had some sinister design in endeavouring 
 to draw from me a written promise to submit my conduct in relation to their 
 father s affairs, as between them and me, to arbitrators, they would have been 
 satisfied with the assurances they received, that I should, for their satisfaction, 
 lay before them a statement thereof, and submit the same to some respectable 
 gentlemen for examination and approval. But I have reason to believe from the 
 whole tenor of their conduct, that, by exciting the apprehensions of Mrs. Jov m 
 my absence, and endeavouring to intimidate me with a threat to publish me to 
 the world, they hoped to obtain from me, in their cunning, such an instrument, 
 as would have amounted to a tacit acknowledgment of their right to call me to 
 account, as an agent of their father, which I totally disavow.
 
 17 
 
 which I am answerable on account of Mr. Barrell's af- 
 fairs; or secure the whole to be paid to me, by in- 
 stalments, at six, twelve, eighteen and twenty four 
 months with interest, I will engage to convey to them 
 every item of property that I received from their father, 
 for which I do not account. This, however, shall not 
 preclude me from disposing of any part, or parts, of the 
 property, as I shall judge best, previous to tneir making 
 such arrangement. 
 
 Having, from a sense of justice to my character and 
 duty to my family, thus stated the leading facts relative to 
 my connexion with Mr. Barrell and his affairs, I shall not, 
 by any misrepresentations or abuse from the authors of 
 the pamphlet to which this is a reply, be induced again 
 to trouble the public on the subject, for, as it ever has 
 been, so it now is my determination, to place the docu- 
 ments relative to this concern into the hands of some 
 gentlemen for examination ; on thein opinion I shall rest 
 lor a complete justification of my conduct. 
 
 B. JOY. 
 
 ACCO UNT, alluded to in the foregoing Statement, of the monies 
 disbursed by B Joy, for the sufifiort of the different members 
 of the late Josefih Barrell, Esg's. family, since his death. 
 
 For the Widow Sarah Barrell 2443. Interest on do. 907, amounts to 3350 dols. 
 For Mrs Electa Barrell and 
 
 children, 3373. do. 1186, do. 4559 dola. 
 
 For Charles Barrell, . . . 343. do. 343 dols. 
 
 For Henry Barrell, . . . . 7'1. do. 28, do. 739 dols. 
 
 For George Barrell, .... 803. do. 310, do. 1113 dols. 
 
 For Samuel B Barrell, . . . 2742. do. 990, do, 3732 dols. 
 
 For John C. Barrell 817. do. 284, do. 1 10 1 dols. 
 
 For Thomas B. Barrell, . . 1656. do. 592, do. 2248 dols. 
 
 Amount of suras paid, for ? 12 M Simple In- ? 054097 Whole 7 
 which 1 hare accounts. $& U888 - terestoado.5* 4297 ' amt. 5
 
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